Archive for January, 2012

The Skinny:
Hey, kids! Just in time for the one year anniversary of the debut of Red State at Sundance 2011, there’s now another place to take your flicks! And it’s called…

The Fat:
One year ago today, Red State debuted at the Sundance Film Festival…

That night, in a piece that reads like it was written by Smithers from The Simpsons, a movie biz blogger wrote that I had “imploded”, because I stood on a stage in Sundance and said, amongst other things, that I was going to self-distribute Red State without spending millions (or any money, really) on marketing. The dude’s comments seem even dumber when you consider the sheer amount of stuff I did last year.

Bizarrely, the poison-penner drew his sword to defend the very film biz his site regularly attacks, going so far as to write that movies were an “honorable business” insisting my “rant” made me seem like a “tortured, angry guy.” But looking back a year later, I still see that speech as simply passionate. Passion – the fuel of every artist; a fuel, perhaps, unfamiliar and difficult to process for the kind of scribe who reprints a press-release and calls it “writing.” However, it’s easy enough to decide for yourself if I was “tortured”: the whole speech can be seen here.

Maybe the journalist thought I was “tortured” and “angry” because he’s older than the hopeful filmmakers of tomorrow I was addressing that night: kids like the Indie Game folks, whose flick is at Sundance this year. Regardless, to me, the guy’s piece felt short-sighted and unnecessarily shitty: if anyone seemed “angry” and “tortured” it was the dude attacking me on behalf of his studio friends, writing hypothetically about what I could’ve done to launch my new business model on the Sundance stage instead of giving that speech.

Advice from non-doers is worth approximately jack and shit in my world; it’s like getting marital advice from a priest. His suggested alternative route was standard and uncreative; but then, the advice was coming from a person who seemed irritated that I’d dared to venture outside the little box he’d deemed appropriate for me. To him, I was simply the Clerks-guy – nothing more: and the Clerks-guy had no business telling this scribbler’s Hollywood heroes and pals that marketing spending had gotten so out of control in the movie biz, he was going to skip that step altogether in releasing his own film.

I’ll never know how his imaginary scenario would’ve played out, but I know what our Sundance launch actually accomplished: profitability for Red State and the film’s investors getting their investment back, with nearly zero marketing costs. This was great for Red State, but it’s also made easier the financing of my next (and last) flick, Hit Somebody. Since that day, Emillio Estevez and Martin Sheen toured their movie The Way, Francis Ford Coppola announced at ComicCon that he’d be touring with his latest flick, and Louis CK went next-gen, selling his latest stand-up special on the web. I’m not saying I inspired any of that, but I’m happy and proud to be part of that small club full of folks who’re thinking “Maybe there’s another way to do this…” who then do something about it, too.

During the Red State U.S.A. Tour, I talked about using SModcast Pictures to release the movies of folks who can’t find release anywhere else. I estimated it wouldn’t happen ‘til after Hit Somebody, but we’re gonna move that timetable up now… to this year!

Thanks to a partnership with Phase 4 Films – our True North partners who handled the sold-out Red StateRed Province tour and home video release in Canada – SModcast Pictures will be taking your show on the road this year, as we apply our Red State touring model to the indie flicks made by you!

Here’s the official press release:

I honestly cannot wait to start finding flicks to take out on the road. Live action, animation, big budget, micro-budget, comedy, drama, horror – I want you to send ‘em all to SMacquisitions@phase4films.com! Come join the circus!

And remember, kids: don’t ever let any finger-wagging old dicks shit on your dreams and ideas.

1:45 PM UPDATE!HA! TOLDJA!
ONE YEAR LATER, that hack is still crying about how I made his movie distributor pals leave a football game watching party to see a flick at a film festival! Talk about sucking on studio cock! He also tries to say I’ve “come in from out of the cold” with this SModcast Pictures/Phase 4 deal – which is incredibly stupid, as Phase 4 is a partner (not our “owner”) for releasing THE FLICKS OF OTHER FILMMAKERS. Phase 4 released Red State in Canada last year, but this announcement was about releasing the films of other filmmakers – something you’d imagine someone who covers the shrinking world of film would want to celebrate, not try to damn. But he was in such a rush to run horse-shit, this bitter old dick can’t even read the fucking press release that it is his job to simply reprint. Trust everything his website runs, because he sure is well-read!

Hey, Mike: How about you take Harvey’s cock out of your hand, if that’s what’s preventing you from re-typing the press release correctly into your “article”? Or how about making an effort with a little reading comprehension, so you can understand what was actually written in the press release you were emailed.

And now, suddenly, just like last year this time, I’m not getting another round of emails from friends in the business asking what I’ve “…done to Nikki Finke’s bitch-boy.” Too funny…